Owning a Car in Argentina

There´s lots of "fun" things about car ownership in Argentina ...but my buddy Fred of SilverStarCar can usually trump anything I know and any story I can tell.  He´s got enough nightmare stories to fill a book!

But I got somethin´ to tell you about ownin´ and operatin´ that even Freddie might not know!

...because this post is about pickup trucks!

Owning a pickup truck in Argentina is actually a pretty cool thing ...especially for a Yanq.  For one, there are a lot of cute little UTEs that car lovers in the US would love to have a shot at owning.

The above little beauty is our 2008 Fiat Strada decked out in custom livery!  It´s a zippy, sporty little cutie with a 1.8L engine, 5 speed, and some serious sound system.  Basically, it´s a Palio taxicab with a 700 liter truckbed.

Choosing to buy a pickup is a good idea in Argentina.  Being an "utilitario", it´s exempt from some of the more onerous taxes that every car buyer runs up against at closing.

RECENTLY, HOWEVER, we learned of a recent government edict aimed at the kinda folks that are likely to own pickup trucks (can you say "oligarchas"?)  It´s sometimes called "La R.U.T.A.", short for Registro Unico de Tranporte Automotor ...I like to call it Moyano´s List.

Hugo Moyano is one of the current administration´s closest allies and is the head of the big CGT trade union and his son is the president of the Truck Drivers´ Union, too.  Moyano was instrumental in enacting the legislation that requires "folks likely to own pickup trucks" to be certified as if they were commercial truck drivers.  That entails going to three different locations all across Capital with wait times in one particular location that have been known to exceed 8 hours before they shut their doors and tell everybody to come back tomorrow.  Each stop costs you hundreds of pesos in fees, too.

If I haul bales of hay or bags of seed to the ranch (or in Puerto Madero or the Airport) without a "Carnet Moyano" sticker in my window ...4 different police agencies have a shot at seizing my truckycito.

If you´re goin´ fishin´ with yer buddy and you have more poles than the cops think is reasonable for two guys ...you could get zapped as well.  Coming back from Mercado Central with an unreasonable load of groceries? ...same thing and there are lots of heavy fines that go along with all that.

Good news from my missus, though!  Today while preparing the first step for us to become real red-blooded truckdrivers, she found that our little Fiat is one of very few camionetas that are rated lower than 700 kilos (I hope they don´t look at my owner´s manual!)

The nice lady at the CNRT (Argentina´s DOT) even gave us a letter to show the cops!

We´re gonna go out to dinner tonight to celebrate!